Banana king suspect in $35m cocaine racket

An Australian banana importer is being held in a German jail over his suspected involvement in a $35 million cocaine importation ring.

German police suspect the 59-year-old man, whose name has not been released, conspired to import 400 kilograms of cocaine found in a shipping container in the Netherlands in June.

Investigators allege that searches of the man's business premises in Germany found $9 million in cash and a raid on his lawyer's premises unearthed $5 million stored in a garage.

The man has allegedly told investigators he knows nothing of the drugs.

His lawyer has allegedly claimed the money is the legal proceeds of his client's activities as one of the world's largest banana importers.

The Bonn State Prosecutor's Office said the man, who is married to a German and lives in the town of Seigburg, had been under surveillance for suspected drug trafficking since September 2002.

A prosecutor, Monika Nostadt-Ziegenberg, said authorities had seized two shipping containers from South America in Rotterdam on June 23 and found 400 kilograms of cocaine concealed in banana crates. The drugs had a street value of about $35 million.

Seven people were arrested on the same day and the Australian man was arrested the next day under suspicion of being part of a drug syndicate.

Investigators allegedly found €1.2 million ($2 million) in a search of the man's company, Kristel Food, while financial records pointed to bank safety deposit boxes containing a further $US4.525 million ($6.67 million).

A search of the premises used by the man's lawyer uncovered US$3.5 million stored in suitcases.

Mrs Nostadt-Ziegenberg said the man was being held in jail in the town of Rheinbach, near Bonn, and had been refused bail on three occasions.

She said the man had told investigators he came from a town in Australia that "no longer exists".

Mrs Nostadt-Ziegenberg said investigators were continuing to look into the case and no date had been set for a trial.

A story in Bonn's General Anzeiger newspaper yesterday reported the man's arrest under the headline "Banana King Under Drug Suspicion".

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware of reports an Australian man had been arrested in Germany on drug charges.

She said the Australian embassy in Berlin was contacting German authorities about the man.